Present day manufacturing requirements often necessitate the formation of various workpiece components by welding together two or more sheet metal blanks. More frequently, lasers have been used to weld abutting edge portions of the sheet blanks along seamlines in the formation of workpiece components.
Conventional laser welding apparatus have suffered the disadvantage in that heretofore, the use of lasers to weld the blanks together has necessitated that the edges of the sheet blanks be pre-finished and have a mirror-smooth finish. The requirements of blank edge preparations have to a large extent been responsible for the reluctance by industries to adapt the use of laser welding apparatus in continuous seam welding processes used to form sheet blanks.
Conventional laser apparatus have suffered the further disadvantage in that to ensure the formation of a complete weld and prevent butt-weld seams having concavity, it is necessary to ensure precise abutting contact between the proximal edges of the sheet metal blanks along the entire length of the weld seam. The necessity of maintaining the sheet blanks in precise contact during welding disadvantageously results in an increase in workpiece production time as a result of the necessity of ensuring the blanks are in an exact abutting position prior to welding.